The present thesis analyzes the
cultural image of the Russian neo-Romantic writer Alexander
Grin (1880-1932) as it has been constructed by Soviet
ideology and received in Soviet popular culture since the
late 1950s. The topic of the thesis is unique, and it has
not yet been investigated before.

The thesis explores three major
aspects of Grin’s representation in Soviet culture:
critical, fictional and cinematic. The first part “Critical
representation of Grin’s works in the USSR” focuses upon the
process of construction and development of ideological
“myths about Grin” in the system of Soviet culture. It
demonstrates and analyzes the transformation of the official
and public attitude to Grin’s works from the 1920s to the
1980s.

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The second part is entitled
“Representation of Grin’s image in Soviet fiction: Grin as a
fictional character”. Through the coherent analysis of three
Soviet novels (introducing Alexander Grin as a protagonist),
it explores the phenomenon of the transformation of both the
personal and socio-cultural attitudes to Grin. The fictional
works are viewed in chronological order: The Black Sea by
Konstantin Paustovsky (Chernoe more, 1935), The Wizard from
Gel’-Giu by Leonid Borisov (Volshebnik iz Gel’-Giu, 1944)
and The Lord of Chances by Valentin Zorin (Povelitel’
sluchaynostey, 1977-79).

The study of Grin’s case offers
a unique opportunity to investigate how the old ideological
myths are occupying the minds of younger generations
nowadays. Grin is still a “cult figure” for Russian society,
but it remains to be investigated to what extent his
contemporary image (and the image of his fiction) is
influenced by the old models of the Soviet era.